Aston Villa 0 Spuds 2 Post Match Thread

[Risso]

Haven't read all of this thread but have to say that the thing that really stood out for me last night was how much of a physical difference there appeared to be between the two sides. Spurs players all seemed to be bigger, taller, stronger and fitter than the Villa players.

That's what you get when you have a squad with an estimated value of £680m against one worth an estimated £380m. (numbers from Transfermarkt).

Ehhhhhhhh? What on earth has their value got to with how big they are?!

Bigger, taller, stronger, fitter was the original post. Not just size, but overall physicality. When you take those criteria, you generally get a better quality of player. It's why the little kids don't get a look in.

That just dosn't stand up to any scrutiny at all. Sheffield United are a team of strong cloggers, they're bottom of the league. Leeds are an extremely fit and physical side, and their squad cost bugger all. Man City are full of smaller more skilful players and they cost £1bn+. Ollie Watkins is much smaller than Davis but is now worth £50m+ probably while you couldn't give Davis away.

[Drummond]

Haven't read all of this thread but have to say that the thing that really stood out for me last night was how much of a physical difference there appeared to be between the two sides. Spurs players all seemed to be bigger, taller, stronger and fitter than the Villa players.

That's what you get when you have a squad with an estimated value of £680m against one worth an estimated £380m. (numbers from Transfermarkt).

Ehhhhhhhh? What on earth has their value got to with how big they are?!

Bigger, taller, stronger, fitter was the original post. Not just size, but overall physicality. When you take those criteria, you generally get a better quality of player. It's why the little kids don't get a look in.

That just dosn't stand up to any scrutiny at all. Sheffield United are a team of strong cloggers, they're bottom of the league. Leeds are an extremely fit and physical side, and their squad cost bugger all. Man City are full of smaller more skilful players and they cost £1bn+. Ollie Watkins is much smaller than Davis but is now worth £50m+ probably while you couldn't give Davis away.

Read this article

It discusses Liverpool's athletes, the weights room and emphasis on athletes that can play football rather than footballers that can become athletes.

[eamonn]

Davis did more in 10 minutes than Watkins in 90 last night. The poor bustard gets nothing but grief, has started about two games in the PL and does his best with the limited time he gets.

We need better (and Ollie is clearly a better player) but it strikes me as bizarre to slag him off for his cameo last night. He made a chance out of nothing with a clever bit of body movement and he came short to win the ball and get us moving forward a couple of times.

[aj2k77]

I think he gets slagged off because he is a ''forward'' who hasn't scored a league goal for 3 and a half years and 2 in 58. The mother of all Heskeys.

[nick harper]

I think he gets slagged off because he is a ''forward'' who hasn't scored a league goal for 3 and a half years and 2 in 58. The mother of all Heskeys.

Vast majority of those are 5-10 minute substitute appearances. He shows glimpses that make me reluctant to just write him off which is why giving him a run of games to the end of the season makes sense to me.

We’ve not been in this mid-table position for a fair while and given the club have given him a contract to 2024, Smith should give him a chance.

[LukeJames]

I've always liked him, he's never in a million years a goal scorer but he makes the ball stick, if we are to persist with this god forsaken wacking it up to the forwards then he's our best option because at the moment as soon as we wack it long its coming straight back at us. Play Ollie in the 10 or as a second striker and keep him up with Davis because at the moment we have a £30m striker that we are not supplying.

[colin69]

Davis can’t do a fat lot in 10 minutes. Looked like it was Craig Shakespeare who persuaded Dean to put him on from what I saw on the TV.
Either play him for a few games and see what happens or get rid of him, as it’s not doing him or us any good sticking him on for a few minutes every now and again.

[Rudy65]

Davis did more in 10 minutes than Watkins in 90 last night. The poor bustard gets nothing but grief, has started about two games in the PL and does his best with the limited time he gets.

We need better (and Ollie is clearly a better player) but it strikes me as bizarre to slag him off for his cameo last night. He made a chance out of nothing with a clever bit of body movement and he came short to win the ball and get us moving forward a couple of times.

Totally agree. Anything’s currently better than our 3 so called wingers who somehow get regular game time

[richtheholtender]

Really wanted to turn those fuckers over, but felt the result was inevitable.

I know we're nowhere near the team that got relegated, but that's the first game I've seen in a long while where I saw the starting eleven and knew we'd get nothing from it.

It was also the first time I’ve watched us fall behind and never really felt we could get back in it.

Really? We have 1 point from games we have fallen behind in this season. I don't expect us to get anything when we concede the 1st goal.

Really. I always thought we were threat to teams in particular the first half of the season. Last night and has been the case for the last few weeks I just didn’t feel we had it in us.

[RamboandBruno]

Davis did more in 10 minutes than Watkins in 90 last night. The poor bustard gets nothing but grief, has started about two games in the PL and does his best with the limited time he gets.

We need better (and Ollie is clearly a better player) but it strikes me as bizarre to slag him off for his cameo last night. He made a chance out of nothing with a clever bit of body movement and he came short to win the ball and get us moving forward a couple of times.

I agree with this Eamonn. The end of last season when him or Samatta were expected to lead the he didn’t look he could cut it, but that was the mother of pressure cooker football environments.
Whilst we’re struggling give the kid a chance and put Ollie out wide, that combination simply cannot do any worse than the Trez, el Ghazi, Traore combo at the moment.

[ROBBO]

There is no doubt Watkins is a much better player but if i Were to ask who you would say is better at holding and protecting the ball i would say Davis every time.
We havn't sold him because obviously the manager sees something in him, i agree, switch the formation let them play together, god knows Watkins could do with the help.

[SoccerHQ]

Davis can’t do a fat lot in 10 minutes. Looked like it was Craig Shakespeare who persuaded Dean to put him on from what I saw on the TV.
Either play him for a few games and see what happens or get rid of him, as it’s not doing him or us any good sticking him on for a few minutes every now and again.

Big problem though is he dosen't even come on half the time when we need a goal. The Leeds and Southampton defeats at start of the season he was unused sub in both and even though he's featured more recently he's still usually the last sub we make after the usual swopping wide players e.g. we don't put him on say after 55th minutes which would've been interesting yesterday at 0-1.

I'd love DS to be asked a serious question about him in one of the pressers about our use of him in last two years e.g. why do we never put him out on loan to give him regular starts and give him more confidence and why do we just keep him around and not bother getting in a decent back up striker window after window. It's all a bit odd.

Just feels now like him hanging around is just stopping us doing much upfront, is he really contracted until 2024?

[Skerra]

With Jack back, I really would urge DS to think about changing to 2 up front. Davis may not be the answer as a goal scorer but, my feeling is that Watkins could play off him to get the goals as, Davis does have the strength to hold off defenders, thereby creating space and room for Ollie. I’d also be looking for DS to give Nakamba a run in the team. Let’s face it, the goals have dried up and he now has time to sort out a different formation. Other teams now seem to have sussed our weaknesses, ie the wingers who generally can’t cross a ball so, a re-think is needed. Had you told me I would be saying this, particularly about Davis & Nakamba a couple of months ago, I would have definitely said no but, needs must and, we can’t just keep doing what we are doing. If you think about it, if we as fans, know exactly what the like for like substitutions are going to be, you can bet your bottom dollar that the opposing managers know the same.

[ktvillan]

Davis has never been given a fair chance to establish himself. How many full games has he ever played?  Or full halves even? Or any spells of more than 15 minutes? The guy has some ability and  strength to keep the ball at the sharp end and I'm another who thinks Ollie might benefit from playing off him.  We could do a lot worse and we have been doing worse - like persisting with the utterly pointless and dreadful Trezeguet who has played far more and offered what, one assist all season?  Or AEG and Traore who are clearly very inconsistent to say the least.  Give Davis a run while there is nothing to lose and we'll find out once and for all if he's got what it takes.  It can't be any worse than what we've endured the last 8-10 games.

[PaulWinch again]

There’s some logic to that. But I’m 99.9% certain that Davis isn’t good enough.